Corona pan(dem)ic: gateway to global surveillance
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SHORT COMMUNICATION
Corona pan(dem)ic: gateway to global surveillance Regina Sibylle Surber1,2
© The Author(s) 2020
Abstract The essay reviews the digital emergency measures many governments have adopted in an attempt to curb Covid-19. It argues that those ‘virologically legitimized’ measures may infringe the human right to privacy and mark the transition into a world of global surveillance. At this possible turning point in human history, panic and latent fear seem to fog much needed farsightedness. Leaving the current state of emotional paralysis and restarting to critically assess the digital pandemic management can serve as an emergency break against drifting into a new era of digital monitoring. Keywords Corona · Covid-19 · Pandemic · Human rights · Digital technologies · Surveillance · Ethics It is said that the ‘corona crisis’ may be the biggest crisis of the current generation. As of 28 September 2020, 32.7 million persons are said to have been tested positive on Sars-CoV-2 in more than 200 countries and territories, and 991.000 people are said to have died from Covid-19 (WHO 2020a). On 11 March 2020, the World Health Organization’s Director General declared Covid-19 as a pandemic (WHO 2020b). By the end of January and early February 2020, a wave of panic of the previously unknown physical Covid-19 illness has spread across the planet.1
Governmental restrictions and human rights In an attempt to contain the spread of the corona pandemic, and in order for national health care systems not to be overwhelmed by the potentially enormous influx of people suffering from the acute respiratory syndrome that Sars-CoV-2 may trigger, many governments have adopted emergency measures to secure public health and order. Those emergency measures are, arguably, drastic. As of March 2020, almost the entire globe ‘locked down’: The study is based partly on Surber (2020). * Regina Sibylle Surber [email protected] 1
Center for Ethics, University of Zurich, Zollikerstrasse 117, 8008 Zurich, Switzerland
ICT4Peace Foundation, Pfalzgasse 1, Zurich, Switzerland
2
Most governments have temporarily closed educational institutions, impacting 60% of the world’s student population. Several other countries have implemented localized closures that may impact millions of additional learners (UNESCO 2020).2 As a result of the pandemic, around 70 countries across the world had imposed or still are imposing entry bans, quarantines and other restrictions for citizens or travelers to most affected areas (Salcedo and Cherelus 2020). As of 28 September 2020, around 70 countries and territories still impose global restrictions applying to all foreign countries, or prevented their citizens from travelling (IATA 2020). Many governments had also implemented curfews or urged people to stay at and work from home. In places where people were still allowed to leave their houses, gatherings of more than a handful of people were banned.3 During the lockdowns, in many countries, doctors’ offices and pharmacies remained open, but restaurants
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